Potato, Leek & Ham Soup

I went to the farmers market this morning and found some great leeks - or leek, since I only bought one...

I've actually never used leeks before, so I went on a forage through the interweb for some good recipes to try it out in and found one for a Ham, Potato and Leek Soup on SimpleRecipes.com that sounded worth a try.  Plus, I had some ham in the freezer that I needed to use up, so this sounded perfect!

I did make some modifications to it - most significantly the addition of garlic - yum!!

Potato, Leek & Ham Soup
Serves 4-6 depending on whether it's a meal or appetizer
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes 
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 cups leeks, thinly sliced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• Potatoes (I used about 15 fingerlings that I got at the market, but 2 large russets would work fine too), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 cups diced ham
• 1 tsp chopped garlic - about 1 chopped cloves
• 1/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
• Salt to taste
• 3 Tbsp fresh parsley

1.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

2.Add the leeks, cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Until they look like this...

2. Add the potatoes, garlic, chicken broth and pepper.

3.  Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
4.  Using a blender (or food processor), process until smooth (or you can leave some chunks in - up to you). 

3.  Stir in diced ham and milk.  Garnish with the parsley.

Salsamole? Guacasla? Avosalsa?

I was craving fresh salsa... the chunky kind that just tastes like summer...

We had gone to the market and ended up with some ripe avocados, which never seems to happen to us - we always get the ones that are hard as rocks.

So I wanted to combine the two - but we couldn't decide what it should be called.  The hubby voted for Salsamole - which I'm a little partial to, but maybe not totally accurate.

Anyway, it ended up being pretty great - and easy to make!

Salsamole

Ingredients:

• 2 large tomatoes (or a bunch of cherry tomatoes - more flavorful, I think)
• 1 large white onion
• 1 ripe avocado
• Chopped fresh cilantro to taste - I used about 1/4 cup but I like cilantro
• 1 jalapeno - if you like it spicy, leave the seeds in, or if you're like me and you're not too big on spice but just want some flavor, take the seeds out
• Juice of one lime

1. Chop the tomato

2. Chop the onion and add it to the bowl

3.  Chop and add the cilantro

4. Chop the avocado and jalapeno, add them to the bowl.  Squirt the lime juice over the bowl and mix.
5. Dig in and enjoy!!!